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Letter to General Enoch H. Crowder from Herbert Hoover - September 23, 1918

United States Food Administration Washington 23-September-1918 Dear General Crowder:- I am in receipt of your letter of [September] 21st. I enclose copies of my correspondence with the President upon this subject, which you will observe constitute ample authority for any action of mine. In fact, I think your office being ignorant of the situation here and of the previous discussions between myself and my staff, and between myself and the other department heads of the Government and the President, have totally misunderstood the whole position. That I have a right to intervene in the matter is amply conceded by the regulations, were it not self-evident in common sense and the President's instructions. That I have a right to communicate confidentially between myself and my staff, I cannot concede for discussion. Aside from these matters, however, there is a kink in certain types of American character that you do not provide for in the draft; that is, the man who is more valuable in the Civil Government than in the line, and who will not of his own volition make application for deferred classification, and who will in fact oppose such application. The opposite extreme are those men who wish to use an official connection, either remote or unimportant, in order to escape service. In order to avoid both horns of the dilemma I have simply insisted that all supporting affidavits from this administration would be made by myself personally and not by local agents, and in order that I should not be subjected to importunity either way I have instructed this fact to be kept confidential.

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United States Food Administration Washington 23-September-1918 Dear General Crowder:- I am in receipt of your letter of [September] 21st. I enclose copies of my correspondence with the President upon this subject, which you will observe constitute ample authority for any action of mine. In fact, I think your office being ignorant of the situation here and of the previous discussions between myself and my staff, and between myself and the other department heads of the Government and the President, have totally misunderstood the whole position. That I have a right to intervene in the matter is amply conceded by the regulations, were it not self-evident in common sense and the President's instructions. That I have a right to communicate confidentially between myself and my staff, I cannot concede for discussion. Aside from these matters, however, there is a kink in certain types of American character that you do not provide for in the draft; that is, the man who is more valuable in the Civil Government than in the line, and who will not of his own volition make application for deferred classification, and who will in fact oppose such application. The opposite extreme are those men who wish to use an official connection, either remote or unimportant, in order to escape service. In order to avoid both horns of the dilemma I have simply insisted that all supporting affidavits from this administration would be made by myself personally and not by local agents, and in order that I should not be subjected to importunity either way I have instructed this fact to be kept confidential.